Sweden Industry December 2016

Sweden: Industrial output declines in December

February 10, 2017

Industrial production swung from a revised 1.1% expansion in seasonally-adjusted terms in November (previously reported: +1.2% month-on-month) to a sharp 1.8% contraction in December. According to Statistics Sweden (SCB), December’s reversal reflected a strong decrease in the components of chemicals and industry for pharmaceutical products and the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products.

A year-on-year comparison showed that the decline in industrial output worsened from a 0.1% drop in November to a sharper 0.9% contraction in December. The overall trend pointed downwards as annual average growth in industrial production edged down from 2.3% in November to 2.0% in December.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists project that industrial production will increase 2.1% in 2017, which is down 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2018, the panel expects that industrial production will increase 1.9%.

Total industrial production excluding energy rose a seasonally-adjusted 0.9% in November over the previous month according to Statistics Sweden (SCB), down from October’s revised 2.0% rise (previously reported: +1.9% month-on-month).

The economic tendency indicator declined from a revised 113.8 in November (previously reported: 114.1) to 112.5 in December according to the National Institute of Economic Research (NIER), marking the ninth successive month above 110.0.